Sticking Together
by rocket killer
Summary: The world needed life to feed it, if it was not fed it would die. Life from Ventuswill, a divine dragon, was the only life that the world would accept. Her friend however, had different ideas. Unwilling to lose his best friend, Lest offers to give his life to Ventuswill to use as a proxy. The idea was quickly rejected. With no other options, the two come to a compromise.


**Author's Note: I have not completed Rune Factory 4 yet and therefore do not know the entire plot so please do not spoil it for me! I hope that you all enjoy this story I put together as I am still very new to the Rune Factory universe. Also, _please_ leave a comment, I love getting them and they help motivate me to write more. I can see the number of people that view the story but leaving a comment makes it seem more like a person read it, not a number. So, without further ado, I present to you my story!**

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"No… no, I won't let you!" I yelled in desperation.

It wasn't fair, nothing was! The first friend I made since… _it_ happened. Had my last friendship been made years, days, or maybe it was mere seconds before _it_ happened? Being honest, I didn't even know what _it_ was or when it had happened. All I knew was that my memories were lost in a fuzzy and somewhat painful way because of… _it_. I had spent many sleepless nights by candlelight wracking my mind 'till it was wrought with the agony of its own emptiness trying to find something that no longer existed. The farthest I had ever gotten in the pursuit of finding my past self was in a dream. I saw him, or rather an obscure and enigmatic simulacrum of myself. I didn't understand what I saw; he just stared at me with what I could only conclude to be contempt. Did he disapprove of my reality? I often wondered if he felt as though I had subrogated him or rather, that I had subrogated myself. After these events, I overthought all actions I took wondering if my counterpart would approve of them. Now however I realized something, something that would change my life forever. He didn't matter, I didn't matter, the only thing that mattered to me was my best friend… and she was dying.

"You cannot stop me; it is the only way…" She asserted with a doomed finality.

"No, there has to be another way, a better way!"

"Will you cavil at everything I say?!" The green dragoness huffed in annoyance. "I do not wish this anymore than you do but even after thousands of years this is the only option that has ever been conceived."

"Drop the act Venti! You hate being all dignified and proper all the time, remember? Please, if you truly believe this to be your moment is this really how you want to spend it?!" I pleaded.

Venti… it wasn't her true name it was simply a sobriquet that she had allowed me to call her by. Lady Ventuswill, the Divine Wind was how most beings addressed her, but not me. I had the privilege of calling a divine being a frivolous nickname that indicated familiarity. She even spoke to me differently. She addressed all of her subjects in a booming voice that commanded attention and respect, a voice that shook rooms. With me however, her voice was softer, friendlier, and surprisingly… cute sounding, not something you would expect from a divine dragoness of near ultimate power anyways.

"I-I'm scared okay?! I know what I said earlier about how I lived a full life but I don't wanna die! I know it's selfish and I know I need to give up my remaining life force to keep the soil of the planet alive but it's the only way! If I don't then the soil will never grow anything again and everyone will die!"

"You… don't have to die, you know. I could give you my life force, I could become a…"

Tears pricked at Venti's eyes, "Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence! How could I live with myself if I had accepted your life force and you became a monstrous husk? I can't live in a world where my best friend painfully morphs into a monstrosity because of me, I refuse it," She stated as tears rolled down her scaly cheeks.

"Well I refuse to live in a world where you die and I could have stopped it! When I lost my memory you let me live in your castle, you taught me how to till the soils of the earth, you entrusted me with the responsibilities of a prince and you even gave me your friendship! I don't _want_ to live without you because without my memories you're all I have," I countered boldly.

"You think me a nonesuch, then? Despite my divine status I am far perfect and I'm definitely not immortal. If I were I could solve this situation quite easily. It's funny how cruel this situation is… well funny in an ironic sense I suppose. One of us must pass yet neither of us can bear to go on without the other…"

"Yeah, it's funny to think I had a life before I met you seeing as I've kind of devoted it to all of my friends, including you, and our kingdom."

"How does one _kind of_ devote their entire life to another? When did this happen?" She asked playfully in spite of the situation.

I had to think of something witty to counter that later. If there was one thing that we loved to do it was banter. We would often have childish arguments, even in the presence of others, but of course we whispered then. Most of the time I could determine when she was only joking, I was very skilled in the art of sarcasm after all. Rarely though, there were times when I couldn't tell if she was being serious or teasing me. One rather… odd conversation we had was burned into my mind as if it had been branded there…

After coming back to the castle on a rather dull yet peaceful day of grocery shopping and farming I decided to visit with Venti to pass the time. Upon entering her court she inquired what brought me to her, since it was nothing of vital importance was bothering me I decided to just tell her the simple truth.

"I came to see you," I remember saying casually saying with a sip of water.

"Oh?" She giggled a bit. "I see, I see."

"Hmmm?" I hummed as my mouth was full of water.

"Just imaging the possibilities," She gave a small laugh at the end of that. "I had no idea you loved me so!" She proclaimed as I chocked on my water.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!" I sputtered out tugging at my shirt that I had just spewed and coughed water on.

"It's all right!" She encouraged happily. "You don't have to hide it."

"I-I'm not hiding anything," I stuttered now thankful that I had spat on my shirt, I was sweating bullets now and she would only think it was water.

"You mustn't be shy. I accept your feelings!"

I rushed out of the room after that giving the excuse that I needed a change of clothes. To this day I still don't know if she was teasing me or actually desired to harbor a more significant relationship as the conversation was never brought up again. I didn't know how I felt about it either, to be honest. Now wasn't the time of think of the frivolities of a potential romance however, odd and unlikely as it may be. My friend was in danger and I needed to help her!

"So… if you give your life force to the soil, the earth will be bear its fruits once more but you would die in the process. If I gave you my life force you'd live, the earth will be ripe with life, but I'd mutate into a horrendous monster. If nothing is done then the soil will no longer be able to grow anything and all life would come to an end," I listed the options aloud to see if I could conceive another solution.

"That is the long and short of it I suppose, and as I see it there is only one option."

"I just listed three! What do you mean only one option?!"

"Well, I hardly presume the third to be a valid option, I shall not sit idly by as the world I have come to love is destroyed. You know that I will not accept your life force, Lest. I'd rather die than see you change into a monster only to prolong my life. That leaves us with one option."

"Wh-what if there was a forth option, one where we both might live?" I asked forming a wild idea in my head.

" _Might_?" She raised a brow.

"Yeah, might. What if I only gave you _half_ my life force and you only used half of yours as well?"

"…Unacceptable, there is no telling what may happen."

She hesitated, now was my chance, "Could it be a worse fate than death?"

"I… do not know," She confessed solemnly.

"Would you be willing to try it for me, yourself or the world… for the future, whatever it may bring?" Neither of us talked for what seemed like an eternity after I explained my reasoning.

"Curse your ability to invoke such a nonsensical amount emotion in me… fine," she conceded.

This was a momentous decision on her part; words could not describe how proud of her I was. After all, the fate of the world hung by a mere thread, if we failed we would not be able to simply try again. Doubts crept out of the darkest recesses of my mindscape, however. What if Venti was right and the results proved catastrophic? At least all of the previous options had absolute results! What if my solution killed us both? What if it only saved _half_ the world? What if it destroyed _the entire_ world? No, I refused to let Venti sacrifice herself and I knew she felt likewise for me. This was the best way, the only way.

"Very well, let us begin. Please, step forward," I obeyed her request.

"What now?" I asked curiously awaiting further instruction.

"Place your hand on my wing, a connection must be formed," I felt a surge through my body as I did so.

I had touched Venti before, of course but not often. Yes, she was my friend but she was still considered a divine being, not someone you can just run up and give a hug or high-five to. While I can honestly say I could feel the power she radiated, it was nothing compared to now. Now it felt as though it was my power as well as hers, _our_ power.

"We shall each lose half of our life force to the earth, leaving us together with two halves, what this will do, I do not know."

I hoped it would simply halve our lifespans; I was fine with living a shorter life if it meant saving the world and my best friend and something told me that she felt the same way. With a mighty roar from Venti I felt our power sink into the earth setting it aglow with a hue similar to that of moonlight. We too, began to glow only on a brilliant gold to contrast the now silvery earth. It was amazing, brilliant, the most astounding thing I'd experienced in my entire life and I was… I was tired, so very tired. For all of the shine that the earth and our forms did radiate, it was no match for the darkness of my eyelids as sleep overtook my being.

"Wake up... please, wake up!" The words escaped my sleeping form but they were not my own. I awoke with a gasp, how had I said these words in my sleep?

"Oh good, you're awake," Vesti's voice said through my lips.

I looked at my hands, or should I say claws? They were scaled and sharp but yet kept their amount in digits. What was happening?! Was I not myself anymore?!

"It would seem that giving even half of our life force to the soil proved to be too much for our bodies to handle. "Luckily, because we were connected and both possessed half of our life force they combined to save us and create…"

"One being," We said in unison, with two different voices from the same mouth.


End file.
